Young liberal leaders from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) & Caucasus regions came together virtually last weekend to take part in the 2nd year of Liberal International’s Democratic Training Academy (LIDTA), which was established in 2020 in partnership with VVD International. Representatives of seven countries took part in a day of training delivered by lead trainer and dutch politician, Roald van der Linde.
Over the coming months, LI & VVD International will build the next generation of political leaders; “You have the power to become game changers” LI President Dr Hakima el Haité said.
Dear participants, dear friends, dear Roald,
I am very happy to launch the second edition of our VVD and Liberal International joint academy.
When we decided to found this academy, our objective was to arm our young liberals to tackle the diverse challenges our world is facing, to support them in becoming more visible, louder and impactful in their region and around the world.
Today we are living in a global, digital and changing world, humanity is maybe facing the most devastating health crisis, a climate crisis, and we are reaching a turning point in OUR model of development.
Today all over the world we are convinced that we need a complete shift in our priorities, and a new development model to realise sustainable and peaceful development.
We need to reinvent the world. And this is possible if the next generation is actively involved.
Today you are selected to participate in this second edition of our LIDTA programme because we believe that you have the creativity and the potential to define and deliver liberal solutions and the downright determination that could make a significant difference in avoiding the worst outcomes of the crises the world is facing.
Each one of you will definitely become an ambassador for our values and fights and our hope is to work together with you to defeat manipulations of populists, To reduce gender inequalities, poverty, discrimination, the destroying of our planet and the ongoing human rights violations.
And you have the power to become game-changers. You have the power to change the mindset of the other youth and to mobilize them which is in itself a revolution.
Last year, 14 ambassadors of liberal values representing 7 countries were trained thanks to our professional team of trainers whom I would like to warmly thank.
This year we have selected, once more, 14 participants coming from 6 different countries and we are starting to build a network of young political influencers.
On our side, Liberal International and VVD, we will work to increase the funding of LI academy in order to increase the beneficiaries and multiply our liberal leaders all over the world. Over the course of this programme, we will equip you with the skills you need to develop your practical and theoretical political experience essential for advancing our shared liberal values across the MENA and Caucasus regions – I am excited to see how each of you will progress.
In the meantime, I wish you a successful start to your training and to see you all, successful graduates, at the end of the programme.
